Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) are wireless networks used for communication and interoperation of portable and mobile computing devices such as PCs, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), peripherals, cell phones, pagers, and other consumer electronics. IEEE 802.15 is a working group of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, which specializes in WPAN Standards.
For high frequency and high data rate wireless networks, IEEE 802.15.3 Task Group 3c (TG3c) is developing a millimeter-wave-based alternative Medium Access Control (MAC) and physical layer for the existing 802.15.3 WPAN Standard. This mmWave WPAN will operate in the unlicensed band covering 57-64 GHz defined by FCC 47 CFR 15.255. The mmWave WPAN standard specifies a high data rate MAC and PHY with at least one Giga bits per second (Gbps) for applications such as high speed internet access, streaming content download (for instance, video on demand, home theater, etc.) The mmWave WPAN will also support very high data rates in excess of two Gbps for time dependent applications such as real time multiple High Definition television (HDTV) video stream and wireless data bus for cable replacement.
Because of the scarce radio spectrum resource and the very high data rate requirement, it is desirable to be able to share or reuse the same frequency channel among different communications devices. For high frequency and high data rate wireless communications systems such as the mmWave WPAN, sharing the same radio spectrum resource would dramatically improve the overall system capacity. Such frequency reuse scheme, however, increases co-channel interference caused by neighboring communications devices using the same frequency channel. As a result, the overall system performance suffers.
Smart antenna is one of the promising technologies that would enable a higher capacity in wireless networks by effectively reducing co-channel interference. Various proposals have been made in wireless networks such as the IEEE 802.15.3c and other mmWave systems to explore the possibility of frequency reuse. Better solutions are sought to continue to improve system capacity without degrading system performance utilizing smart antenna technology.